1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of distraction devices used for facility clearing, such as removing unwanted personnel from buildings and other structures. More particularly, it relates to a multi-sensory distraction grenade to replace or supplement the traditional flash-bang, hand-grenade used to route belligerents from hiding places but without causing lasting injury to them or anyone held by them.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The classic solution for facility clearing (to remove belligerents and/or rescue hostages) is to inject lachrymators (thrown or fired from a rifle or shotgun) or throw flash-bang grenades into the structure they occupy, followed by manned forced entry. These devices provide a small window of distraction to the belligerents but still places entry personnel at significant risk. It is thought that the effects of flash-bang grenades are too short to be effective in distracting the highly trained terrorist.
In the method of throwing devices into buildings and other hiding places, the safety lever on the projectile, such as a lachrymator cannister, is moved from the xe2x80x9csafexe2x80x9d position to the xe2x80x9carmxe2x80x9d position or the arming pin or other arming device is pulled or removed from the projectile. The device is then thrown into the building where, based upon the timing of the installed fuze, the device bursts open releasing the lachrymators such as tear gas. For the flash-bang grenade, the same insertion method is used, but as the canister bursts, several milliseconds of extremely loud sound and bright flashing light are produced.
In each of these prior art devices, many things can go wrong. The fuse may fail to ignite the contents of the grenade giving the belligerents time to throw it back or throw their own device at the law enforcement personnel. The device may bounce off furniture, walls or other structures and land in an area where the flash or bang or lachrymators is isolated and rendered less effective than if it were exploded in an open area. In addition, the short span of discomfort of a flash-bang grenade often renders it ineffective in structure-crowded areas like apartments, houses and the like. When using lachrymators, the gas itself may adversely affect small children and hostages located held by the belligerents and they may be harmed during use of these devices.
This invention is a launchable, multi-sensory distraction grenade in the form of an elongated, round projectile designed for short term travel through the air in a lobbing trajectory. It comprises a base and at least three thin, outer grenade walls arranged together on the base and is topped with a fusing device to form a completely enclosed grenade. The grenade walls are adapted to spring rapidly from a first position, where they are in sealed configuration with each other on the base of the grenade, to a second position, extending laterally outward from the base in different directions, to form legs to support the base in an upright position after the grenade has entered the structure where the belligerents are located and has landed on a surface. A plurality of spring fingers extend from the base to the outer grenade walls for controlling the movement of the grenade walls from their first position to their second position and thereafter retain the walls in contact with the base in a supporting mode so that the inside of the grenade faces upward from an underlying support surface. In another embodiment of the invention, the grenade walls may fly off the base and the spring arms become the sole support of the base. Simultaneously with movement of the grenade walls with the spring fingers, the device takes the form of a large contraption having the grenade walls hanging from the base. This makes the device difficult to pick up and throw thus eliminating the chance that the belligerents will throw the device back at the law enforcement personnel who launched it in the first place.
At least two distraction devices, and preferably three or more, are mounted inside the grenade for undertaking an extended period (i.e., 30 seconds or so) of personnel distraction against the belligerents who are in the area of the grenade. This lengthy distraction process provides a larger window of opportunity for law enforcement personnel to enter the location of the belligerents to capture and/or neutralize them. Distraction devices can be a piercing sound device, such as a whistle, powered by burning gasses issuing from an ignited container of burning material, a strobe light, powered by the same type of burnable source, lachrymators and/or malodorants, such as tear gas, essential oils, orthochlorobenzylidene malononitrile, Mace(copyright), sneezing powder, pepper powder, n-butyl mercaptan, pepper spray, ammonia products, skunk scent, and others dispensed by their own devices or by the burning gasses that drive the whistle or the flashing light. An ignition (fuse) means and a safety trigger make up the balance of the device. Other possible agents that can be used in this invention are color dyes, such as Yellow Jacket(copyright), Identi-Mark(copyright), and agents that cause vomiting and nausea, etc.
This inventive device finds use in a variety of settings. The personnel in charge of the grenade can choose the personnel distraction devices to fit the exigencies of the situation such as whether the belligerent is easily convinced to surrender, whether there are children with the belligerent, whether there are winds in the area that would make lachrymators ineffective, etc. The grenade may be opened, before launching, and the appropriate distraction device added. The inventive grenade allows changing the distraction devices at the point of use thus making it highly flexible.
Accordingly, the main object of this invention is a multi-sensory distraction grenade that is adaptable to a wide variety of situations. Other objects of this invention are a device that may be accurately fired into a belligerent""s hiding place and assault the senses for an extended period of time to support subsequent law enforcement activities to capture the belligerent; a grenade that may be accurately launched by a person or by a rifle for a longer distance; a grenade that is inexpensive to make, that may be altered at the site of its use, that may have its ordinance added to or deleted in order to tailor-make it useful for any particular purpose; and, a grenade that, once fired or launched, opens to become an unmanageable device of a size that thwarts later throwing by others.
These and other objects of the invention will become more clear when one reads the following specification, taken together with the drawings that are attached hereto. The scope of protection sought by the inventors may be gleaned from a fair reading of the claims that conclude this specification.